Tranquility
When was the last time you felt at peace with yourself and the world?
Think about it — I’ll wait…
In a supposed land of plenty, Tranquility certainly seems to be in short supply.
The daily news, reality television, social media feeds, home schooling, business shutdowns, COVID-19 and Coronavirus, work, family, holidays, home repairs, car trouble… not exactly relaxing topics.
It’s even worse if you live in the United States because it’s an election year and no one is saying anything nice about anyone.
The Tranquility Formula: Stretch, Breathe, Count.
When someone or something is getting to you, your body and mind tenses up. You can’t help it, it’s pure reflex. I think it’s our body trying to make itself smaller so that it’s not such a large target for negativity.
You can begin to reverse those effects by stretching — a big ol’ just-woke-up-in-the-morning stretch where you may that weird growling sound in protest of having to get out of bed (or is that just me?).
Next, take a deep breath in — hold it for a second while you feel your lungs expanding — and then exhale completely and try to get every last bit of air out of your lungs. Take another super-deep breath and repeat.
Finally, if you’re still feeling incredibly stressed give counting a try. start by counting to 10. If that doesn’t work try 20. Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said
When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred”.
You could also try counting in a different language (counting is really all I remember from high school French class anyway).
Avoid The Stuff and Nonsense
Social Media is likely a primary cause of your non-tranquil state. And you know exactly which kinds of posts trigger you — and you know exactly which people among your Friends list shares those posts.
Unfollow them!
You don’t have to un-friend them — just click the little gear icon and tell Facebook to “snooze them for 30 days” or change the status setting on their page “Unfollow”. You’ll remain friends, they’ll never know you made the edit, and you’ll simply stop seeing all those annoying posts and shares and memes in your social media feeds.
